When being ‘in the Zone’ turns out to be a really dangerous idea…

Three people go off into the wild in search of a possibly-supernatural phenomenon. On their way, they bicker with each other, getting on each other’s nerves (and sometimes the nerves of the audience, too). We never actually see any of the terrifying things that confront them… but toward the end, a woman makes a tearful confession directly into the camera, and…

And…

Ummm, even though all this is technically accurate, I see I’m inadvertently giving a description of the wrong film. Let me try again:

Our protagonist goes from a mundane, monochrome world into a mysterious land of color, where nothing is quite the same; and (with some curious, ill-matched companions and a dog) follows a winding path on a quest for a magical place where they’ve heard their wishes will be granted… Theyyyyy’re off to see the…

I recall referring to one of your past articles as “near-Beggian.” Well, I do believe I can safely remove the modifier for this one. All I knew about Tarkovsky and his movies came from El Santo’s reviews, having never seen any myself and not really making a point to read up on the subject. I feel like I just took a entire college course after reading this; even better, I never once got bored or found my attention wavering. I’ll be making it a point to watch something from him in the very near future. Hell of a piece, man.

It should indeed be taken as high praise. Beggian is not in any way intended as an insult; he has a knack for presenting insanely-detailed histories of movies, and cinema in general, but in a fashion that is compelling, in a way I love reading (and re-reading).

Certain movies I am okay with watching on my laptop. Something like Crazy Fat Ethel isn’t really going to be harmed by that format. Things I’ll likely never find on my own are fair game, as well; I’d have never seen the stupefyingly insane Hanuman and the 7 Ultramen any other way, I’ll bet, and I wouldn’t give that experience up for anything. (Hell, I wish we could show it at T-Fest because I think it’d be perfect.) While some of his films are likely going to fall under the latter, I do want to make it a point to see one of his better-known ones in a more traditional format with a larger screen. I’m pretty sure I can find Solaris, which would be my most-likely starting point, on my Roku or Amazon or something. However, I thank you for that note on Mosfilm’s channel; I’ve no doubt there are things there I’ll be watching as I’ve almost no experience with Russian/Soviet films. Sounds like something to do this weekend, in fact.